School districts share state aid concerns

Sunday

Jan 19, 2014 at 10:45 AMJan 19, 2014 at 10:45 AM

By Brian QuinnThe SpectatorNew York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is scheduled to release his proposed 2014-15 budget Tuesday. With that in mind, some local school district representatives shared their expectations on what comes out of Albany. They also talked about where their districts are in budget preparation. Asked what his district is hoping to see in?Cuomo’s proposed budget, Hornell Superintendent Doug Wyant Jr. said, “We are hoping to see gap elimination adjustment (GEA) significantly reduced or eliminated. If eliminated, this would help further the educational plan for the district.” GEA?is the amount the state has deducted from each school district’s state aid allocation, since the 2009-10 school year, to help the state fill its revenue shortfall. “Last year our GEA was approximately $750,000, the amount of aid taken away from our state aid package. If reduced, even if the foundation aid is still frozen, the aid package would lessen the impact of increases in the general budget expenses,”?Wyant said. “We hope expense-driven aids are maintained. Finally, any additional aid categories created in the governor's executive budget are equally available to all schools, unlike those in past budget proposals.” Alfred-Almond Superintendent Richard Calkins also said restoring the state aid taken away by the GEA?should continue to be a priority. Calkins said the district relies on this funding to continue to provide for the educational needs of students and lessen the burden on taxpayers. “They (state officials) took back a significant portion of aid that was given and promised. That has a significant effect that can’t be made up by local taxpayers,”? he said. “When we are able to get a projection from the governor, from the Legislature, we can more accurately predict one of our revenue sources.” The Alfred-Almond school board’s next meeting is scheduled for Feb. 12. “I will have some very preliminary (proposed district budget)?figures for them at that time,”?he said. “The board’s starting the budget discussions.” Wellsville Central School District Vice President for Business and Finance David Foster said he will make a presentation on the district’s debt service at Tuesday’s school board session. The meeting is at 6:30 p.m. in Middle School Room 212. “It’s the portion of our budget that deals with debt service and I’m giving what I?anticipate to the board as far as expenses for the upcoming year,”?Foster said Friday. Regarding Cuomo’s proposed budget and school district aid, Foster said he’s heard nothing more than what Cuomo covered during his State of the State address. “The (aid) runs give specific district-by-district data when the governor puts out his proposal,”?Foster said. “This is the time of the year when you normally see these runs come out, but when that comes out is basically up to the governor’s office.” In Scio, the next school board meeting will be at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the elementary school library. “It’s still pretty early. The governor’s proposal comes out next Tuesday and so on Wednesday we’re going to present that,”?said district Business Manager Joseph Butler. He said he hasn’t heard of any proposed increase or decrease in general education aid. Butler said departmental budget presentations should start at the Feb. 5 board meeting with instructional, custodial/maintenance and transportation. Scio Superintendent Gregory Hardy said, “We’re right at the very front end of the budget planning season and we’re trying to get a little bit of an earlier start. Last year and this year, we started earlier. We started designing our timeline in December rather than January.” Hardy said the district did more budget presentations for the community last spring than it’s traditionally done. “That was well-received, so I?think we’re going to do that again,”?he said. In the Andover Central School District, Business Administrator Linda Geer said she and Superintendent Bill Berg will probably sit down after Cuomo announces his proposed budget and look at next year’s district budget. “I just finished the first draft and gave it to the superintendent. My first round,?I?throw everything in that everybody’s asked for and it’s always skewed in the wrong direction,”?Geer said. She said cuts to the proposals will have to be made. “The superintendent and I know what’s there and what we need to do,”?she said. “We have to have something prepared for the Feb. 10 budget workshop.” Geer said there are no district-union negotiations going on this year. “Last year we were negotiating, so we had to put extra money in the budget because the negotiations didn’t finish until after the budget did. Last year we had both instructional and non-instructional,”?she said. “This year we have numbers for salaries.” Geer said there are three individual contracts to be negotiated —?for the business administrator, maintenance and transportation supervisor and superintendent’s secretary. “They haven’t really started yet. They go quicker than the unions do,”?she said. Genesee Valley Central School District Superintendent Dr. Brian Schmitt said the district is hoping to hear soon about Cuomo’s proposed aid to education. “Everything I'm hearing is it appears we may have an increase,” he said when asked what he’s heard about potential state aid for 2014-15. “We are currently preparing the budget. I anticipate presenting the budget to the board of education in March,”?Schmitt said.

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